


Ice and the Clouds

by OnihumoExplosionsInc



Category: Naruto, One Piece
Genre: Alive Shirohige | Whitebeard | Edward Newgate, Forehead Protectors, Ice Powers, Kuzan and Shikamaru Together Create The Laziest Person In The History Of Ever, Laziness As An Art Form, Lazy Genius, Long Term Planning, Longsuffering Big Brother Marco, Ninjas - Freeform, Pirates, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Pretty Much All Of The Good Guys Will Live, Sad Backstory, Shikamaru Is Not Loyal To The WG, This Is One Piece, Well - Freeform, WhiteBeard Adopts Everyone, Who Can Still Defeat Pretty Much Defeat Anyone, Wrenches Being Thrown Into Said Plans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-08-21 23:16:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16586177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnihumoExplosionsInc/pseuds/OnihumoExplosionsInc
Summary: How to insure that Kuzan will one day destroy the World Government, brought to you by the Whitebeard Pirates. With special thanks Akainu, without you, we never could have gained Kuzan as a brother.(Or, Shikamaru is Kuzan, and they are really not happy with this new universe until they are)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Also on Fanfiction. I really do like Shikamaru as Kuzan though. Actually, all of the lazy/tired and smart people in any fandom are my favorite.

Nara Shikamaru died. He fell in the war, fighting alongside friends. He died protecting his Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto. He, the impossibly lazy Nara that just wanted to live an average boring life, had managed to end up as an important person in the war before sacrificing himself for others. 

 

How Troublesome.

 

And now, it was getting even more troublesome for him. Because, apparently the universe decided to conspire against Shikamaru so that he couldn’t even have an average death. Instead of being dead, the powers that be had decided he’d get reborn into a different universe. A reward, they said, but Shikamaru knew that they were all just sadists that liked to watch him squirm.

 

And since he was now a baby and then a toddler, they’d get to see a lot of that. Though he honestly did like being a baby. He could sleep as much as he wanted, people fed him, there were a lot of upsides. His new name was Kuzan, which wasn’t all that bad. His new family were… well, they weren’t genius’s like his old one. Not even close.

 

They were simple fishermen, from what he could tell, and at the very least seemed to value hard work. Though they seemed to have trouble with a child as intelligent and lazy as him.

 

Lee probably would have loved them, but even though he’d only recently turned three they still expected him to start learning how to fish and sail. It was so troublesome. 

 

Though troublesome, he’d also started working with the training he’d done in his previous life. At first, Kuzan had thought that he’d just be able to relax and take it easy in this new life. But no, that would just get him killed.

 

There were pirates. Sea monsters. Corrupt Marines. The world itself seemed like it wanted to drive every person on it absolutely crazy. It was frustrating to know that to not get killed you had to stop being lazy, again. Why was life so hard?

 

And there was a reason Nara’s liked to cloud watch, and were lazy. Their minds thought so much, gave out so much information, that the only place for them to truly get it calmed down was in that place of mindless serenity generally only found watching the clouds. 

 

But here he was, working as often as he could on hard learned ninja skills. Even though this new place didn’t seem to have chakra, he could feel that there was something else. Kuzan wasn’t sure what it was, but at least it allowed him to use the same kind of sensory awareness as chakra did. Knowing where people were was dead useful.

 

Especially after that day he’d eaten that fruit in the forest.

 

At least ice powers were cool and useful.

 

The great weakness of Devil Fruit users had a much harder time of affecting him after he mastered his new powers. Ice was frozen water, and there was so much of that in this world.

 

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

For all the good eating the ice Devil Fruit would eventually cause him, on his home island it was extremely troublesome. Because his family, who’d never really understood him but were nice people, took the devil part seriously. Well, the entire island did. So, even though he’d been on good terms with just about everyone on the island the week before, they had tried to kill him as soon as they found out what he’d eaten even though he’d had the powers for years.

 

It was troublesome… and it really hurt. If this was how Naruto had felt for most of his life, then Kuzan had to wonder about why he didn’t try to kill everyone in the village. 

 

So, in realizing that he couldn’t stay on the island he’d been born on, Kuzan stole a boat and some provisions and left. And while he would make it to the next island, and the island after that… well, eventually there was a storm.

 

And to weather a storm on an inadequate fishing vessel in the middle of the Grand Line as a Devil Fruit user alone was suicide, even if your super power was ice. 

 

Unless Monkey D. Garp was there to fish you out. In which case, you ended up owing the man quite a lot.

 

But, as Kuzan would quickly find out, Monkey D.’s are Troublesome with a capital T.

 

*!*!*!**!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

Somehow, a lazy ninja became a marine. Kuzan, in some Garp inspired madness had decided to join the marines. Admittedly, this was partly because he didn’t really have a home anymore, and partly because Garp had pretty much saved his life.

 

Oh, and he’d been military in his previous life. Needless to say, he’d found that it was much easier to be lazy when working for the government. Missing Nin had to work way harder than everyone that had never turned traitor.

 

Kuzan owed Garp his life though, and the best way to repay him would be to join the marines besides all of the benefits it would give him. And it wasn’t like he didn’t have experience working as a soldier under a corrupt government. Though, he conceded in his own mind, it will probably be even more troublesome an occupation than ninja.

 

At least he’d be directly under Garp to start out with. Because as troublesome as the man was at least he was more in line with what Kuzan had known.

 

Garp probably would have fit right in with the shinobi of Konohagakure, or at least with Gai and Lee. Probably with Naruto as well, Kuzan admitted. And the vice-admiral, even though he knew that Kuzan had eaten a Devil Fruit, had refrained from telling HQ about it. Garp had said that when Kuzan had gotten high enough for a promotion to captain, then he’d tell HQ.

 

Kuzan would be grateful to the man for helping him get settled into the marines peacefully. And for allowing him to make friends before being scrutinized by superiors. Jaguar D. Saul, a fellow recent cadet as well as a giant, reminded him a bit of Chouji with his kindness and protectiveness towards his friends. 

 

Needless to say, they got along pretty well, and hung out even outside of training and learning the ropes on a battleship.

 

Garp, Kuzan had decided, was probably the best marine to follow after as a subordinate.

 

Kuzan and Saul would continue to be subordinates under Garp until they had both climbed the ranks enough that he felt them ready to potentially set off on their own as captains. By the time Garp had told HQ that he was nominating them both for a promotion, and that Kuzan had a Devil Fruit, Gol D. Roger was executed and the marines started trying to find the man’s child.

 

The two friends would climb steadily in rank at this time, separated more often than not, but still remaining close friends. It would take barely a year before they both became Vice-Admirals at the relatively young ages of twenty-three and eighty-four, and that was when things really started to get going.

 

One day, the events that would happen on an island named Ohara would cause a former Nara to retire from his new job with a crafty satisfied smirk, relieved he finally got to make a move against the Government.

 

Because on a particular day, Jaguar D. Saul, the only true friend of Kuzan, worked with a man who would someday be known as Akainu and realized the true depth of the rot that made up the marines and World Government. He would resign and end up as a castaway washing up on the shore of Ohara.

 

His friend Kuzan would barely get the notice that he had resigned before being sent with fellow Vice-Admiral Sakazuki for a buster call on the archeologists of the island.

 

Sakazuki would kill every civilian trying to escape, and gain the go ahead from HQ. 

 

And Kuzan would be forced to kill the best and only friend that he would have for a long time. It would take nearly twenty years before he made friends with someone again and take his revenge.

 

Nara’s are patient and smart. When they become motivated, they are the most terrifying things in the world. 

 

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

The island of Ohara was burning. The screams of the dying, especially from Sakazuki’s side of the island, were starting to silence themselves.

 

Kuzan knew that this entire day would have a special place in his nightmares, being on par with some of the horrors that he had witnessed as Shikamaru. To make matters worse, he had recognized the man destroying battleships on this side of the island.

 

As soon as he heard the report as to how those ships had been destroyed he knew that Saul was responsible.

 

Kuzan had been ordered to kill him, and prevent anyone from escaping the ravaged and burning island.

 

As he froze the fire around Saul and the little girl he’d obviously been trying to protect, Kuzan began to plot. His mind ran as fast as it could, trying to figure out how to get out of the situation. 

 

It got ten times worse when he recognized the girl as Nico Robin, one of the people that was supposed to die even before Sakazuki ordered everyone massacred.

 

“Robin,” Saul said while placing his hat on her head, “Take the boat and go from this place as fast as you can,” he looked over at Kuzan and said, “One day you will make friends that will stand by your side regardless of circumstances.”

 

And Nico Robin took off as fast as she could through the icy path that had been made with tears streaming down her face and a cowboy hat clutched to her heart. 

 

Kuzan looked over at his friend, “I’ve been ordered to kill you,” he said at last.

 

“Then kill me,” came the reply, “I am a dead man anyway, and if you kill me then you won't die alongside me as a traitor. So long as Nico Robin is safe from death then I don’t care what my fate is.” 

 

Seeing the extremely conflicted look on his best friends face, Saul decided to tell him the reason he quit the marines, “The World Government is corrupt, yes, but so long as I know that you are there to counteract and bend orders to do what is right, I will give my last breath easily.”

 

With a heavy heart, Kuzan killed his best friend, and brought the body as proof to the rest of the marines. 

 

He saw Robin on the way to the surviving battleships, and used his powers to give her an escape route, “Nico Robin,” he called out, “Don’t get caught, I likely won’t be able to help a second time.”

 

It wasn’t very long after that day that both Kuzan and Sakazuki were promoted to Admiral, gaining the monikers Aokiji and Akainu. Along with Borsalino who becomes known as Kizaru, all three would gain acknowledgment as three of the strongest marines in the navy. 

 

Aokiji became known as a practitioner of Lazy Justice, all the while keeping in his heart the last words of Jaguar D. Saul and hiding the true extent of his abilities from his fellow marines.

 

After all, a ninja’s greatest asset was stealth and unpredictability. So while they knew of the big things he could do, none ever found out many of the skills he had used as a Shinobi. Barring of course his tactical genius, because inventing all the commonly used patrol patterns and attack plans could be extremely useful one day.


	2. Favors Owed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuzan becomes instrumental in the War of the Best. He also has his fight with Akainu, and leaves the Marines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really do like this chapter, one of my favorites. I hope that none of the characters are too far off the mark.

It was truly a dark day in the history of the Marines. Not only had a rookie infiltrated Impel Down and escaped, but Gol D. Ace(as the marines thought of him) had managed to avoid execution. Even Whitebeard had managed to continue living, leaving them with an unconscious Blackbeard to take care of. 

 

Even though Blackbeard had looked like he was going to be able to end Newgate once and for all, and Admiral Akainu had nearly skewered Fire Fist and Straw Hat, they’d both missed at crucial times.

 

Akainu had slipped just a little and ended up missing the crucial parts of Ace and Luffy, leaving them injured badly but probably going to make it. Especially since someone had spotted Trafalgar Law in their area.

 

Teach, on the other hand, had frozen in the middle of the fight, allowing Edward Newgate to strike him down and the division commanders to get their captain out.

 

Two very small mistakes that had cost them any chance of counting the mess as a win.

 

No-one except for Whitebeard himself noticed the ice that had bound Teach for just a moment, and absolutely no one saw the slick layer of ice that had purposefully slipped up Akainu. A year from the War, when the two Admirals fought to decide the new Fleet Admiral, that simple fact would cause a very huge stir in the ranks of one of the greatest pirate crews in existence. 

 

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

The Whitebeard Pirates were celebrating. The two rookies, Trafalgar Law and Monkey D. Luffy had already left with Rayleigh, and now they were celebrating the freedom of their brother. Though, their oldest brother couldn’t get one thing out of his head. 

 

“Pops,” Marco called out, “Why did Teach freeze up when he saw you in the battle?” Because even if they didn’t say anything about it, Marco knew that his father had almost died that day. Every member of the crew turned to look at their father with a worried or pensive face, wondering the same thing.

 

“Gurarara,” Their father, the strongest man in the world, laughed, “That’s the interesting thing. It seems I owe Kuzan a favor.”

 

“Kuzan?!” Jozu shouted, “You mean Admiral Aokiji, the guy so lazy it’s a miracle he ever catches any criminal without Sengoku outright ordering him?! He saved you?” Honestly, besides the laziness and marine issue, the fact that none of them had even been able to tell he’d done anything was nearly as shocking.

 

“My sons,” Whitebeard began, “I have no doubt that without his intervention I would have died.”

 

And so the Whitebeard Pirates contemplated what would cause Aokiji to help them with his lazy nature along with being their sworn enemy, and swore to themselves that if they ever had the chance they’d repay Kuzan(because he had been shifted over to potential ally in their minds) for his help. 

 

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

One year later, Marco was sitting in his office doing the required paperwork while Ace tried to prevent him from being productive. In all honesty, Ace was succeeding because the fire-man was extremely annoying.

 

Just as Marco was about to give up on his paperwork in order to strangle the second division commander, Vista hurriedly opened the door.

 

“Guys, the paper, we have to show pops,” the fifth division commander shouted before slamming the door and running off.

 

Marco and Ace looked at each other, before following their brother outside. 

 

The paper must have had some important information to have whipped Vista into a frenzy and cause him to gather all the commanders in front of Pops to tell them about it.

 

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

“Look,” Vista proclaimed while brandishing the paper. And then everyone understood. You do not forget the guy that saves Whitebeard’s life, and that guy was on the front page.

 

The paper, seemingly innocuous, had two very important pieces of information on it. That Admiral Akainu had become the Fleet Admiral.

 

And that former Admiral Aokiji had retired from the Marines.

 

“Aokiji lost to Akainu, and due to his injuries has decided to retire… ha, probably just didn’t want to work for a mad dog like Akainu more like,” Jozu muttered.

 

“Still, it is very likely that they both sustained some pretty bad injuries...” Marco said in contemplation.

 

Every single commander got a smile on their face as they realized where Marco was going, before Izo turned to their Pops and said, “Say, why don’t we go and offer some medical help to Kuzan. After all, with him no longer being in the corps I doubt that they have given him any aid.”

 

And with their father giving his amused assent, they set of in search of Kuzan, not realizing what they were getting into. 

 

*!*!*!*!**!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

Kuzan was finally catching up on his cloud watching, unaware of the group of crazy pirates searching for him. He was finally free, and in such a way that the government wouldn’t blame him.

 

Losing your leg to a comrade was very traumatic, they probably thought. Though, considering that it was insanely easy to replace the flesh leg with ice, and that the ice seemed to be regenerating his flesh slowly but surely it was kind of a moot point. 

 

So, Kuzan was taking advantage of his retirement to stay on a rather temperate(for an ice man, to anyone else it would be fairly chilly) island for some well deserved relaxation. Or, if you want to be technical, napping and cloud-watching.

 

Of course, that glorious feeling of not having to do very much at all didn’t last. Mostly because Whitebeard pirates were fairly good at finding people when they put their minds to it, and it wasn’t like Kuzan was moving location or even trying to hide. 

 

So, several weeks after his fight with Sakazuki(which Kuzan was proud to say didn’t show anyone abilities that they hadn’t already known he could do; there was no doubt that if the former ninja had wanted to he could have beaten Akainu. However that would have taken too much effort.) a shadow fell over Kuzan. He ignored it, of course. The shadow began talking and other ones crept up also, blocking out even more of the sun. Kuzan continued to try to sleep, ignoring what the shadows were saying.

 

They didn’t have a bad intent, so they were probably not going to do anything bad(From where they were standing next to each other, Ace sweatdropped while muttering to Marco, “How is he still sleeping?” The rest of the division commanders who were there, because Kuzan was a former admiral and they didn’t know how he’d react, just nodded.).

 

He just grumbled a bit when they picked him up and started taking him to their ship, giving up on him actually reacting to them. It was only when Ace decided to drop him on the deck in front of Whitebeard that Kuzan actually bothered to open his eyes to glare at the fire man.

 

“Troublesome,” he muttered, “Why did you bring me here?” 

 

Ace looked at him for a moment before slowly answering, “Pops said that you saved his life by freezing that traitor at a crucial moment. It kind of got us thinking, and I realized that there should have been nothing able to cause Akainu to slip enough not to kill me, which means that you must have made him because he would have literally melted anything other than you directly making and strengthening the ice…”

 

“So,” Izo said while every pirate on deck slowly gathered closer with curiosity and a hint of suspicion in their eyes, “We asked ourselves why the laziest marine, and an Admiral at that, would help us out, and none of us could figure it out.”

 

Marco grinned at Kuzan with a sharpness that left no one in doubt(not that anyone in the would have much to begin with) why he was what amounted to Edward Newgate’s First Mate, “When we heard that you retired we decided to track you down for some answers and to see if you needed any medical assistance, though you seem far less injured than the papers would lead one to believe.”

 

Kuzan’s head hit the deck with a thump, not even having to deal with the entire Konoha twelve’s antics had been this headache inducing, and he’d had to deal with Lee teaming up with Naruto to ‘defeat’ Sasuke and Neji in a prank war with way too much collateral damage and mental scarring(He never wanted to see that much orange ever again. And the toads and sunset and… Yeah it was still scary).

 

Whitebeard was looking with curiosity at this insanely powerful marine that had helped him, curious as to his reasons. The old pirate was fairly certain it was going to be good, and if he was correct… well. He’d always enjoyed getting new sons through interesting circumstances.

 

“You want to know why I helped two pirates,” Kuzan said with deliberation as he pushed himself up, “It was for two different reasons,” Kuzan then looked at Ace, “For Fire Fist, it was to settle a debt, and for your Captain it was to prevent anarchy and war.” Everyone was mildly unsettled by the sharp gaze that assessed them, realizing that for all his laziness Kuzan had a ridiculous amount of intelligence.

 

“What type of debt,” Ace said with a frown.

 

“One to a pair of Monkey D’s,” at the collective startlement of the Whitebeard Pirates, which included their father, Kuzan explained, “Garp saved my life when I was younger, and Luffy helped me to finally fulfill a promise and lay to rest the soul of my best friend, the least that I could do was to insure the survival of one so important to them. As to Whitebeard, It would have been too troublesome for him to die.” And the former Admiral punctuated the sentence with a yawn, causing a mass twitch.

 

“Too troublesome…” Vista muttered confused.

 

“If Whitebeard died, likely his crew would have scattered. All of his territories would become up for grabs, fought over by anyone with a shred of power. Likely the marine corp would have pushed an advance into those areas creating more havok… and Fishman Island in particular would be put into a bad situation. War, uprisings, violence, all because of the death of one person,” he looked at them(And the chaos he’d caused with his words), sighed, and closed his eyes while relaxing into the deck, “Now, I’ll be taking a nap while you pull yourselves together.”

 

And thus former Admiral Aokiji, also known as Kuzan, took a nap, leaving a hoard of confused and shocked pirates. They certainly weren’t expecting that.

 

“Set sail for the next island,” Whitebeard told his sons as he walked back to his cabin.

 

“Pops,” Marco said as he began to walk alongside him, “What about Kuzan?” Because the guy almost certainly wasn’t a threat regardless of how powerful he was. And some of the things that he’d said, well, beyond what they owed him for saving Ace and their father, Marco had recognized the way he’d talked and acted from some of his brothers. A way that said they’d seen and done terrible things, and hadn’t been able to stop it. A tired look that had mostly given up. 

 

“We should keep him,” Ace said excitedly, “I mean, it’s not like he has other places to go, and he’s totally awesome!”

 

“Of course,” Pops said with amusement, “But we’ll have to convince him like we did with you. Not everyone just decides to stay immediately, some need time to decide(Read: use any means necessary to keep him here until he gives in). Ahh, I love gaining new family members.”

 

And the collective gathering of pirates turned toward their soon-to-be new brother, and grinned predatorily. If Kuzan weren’t asleep, well he probably would have been reminded of the look that Naruto had given people he wanted to be friends with. 

 

Either way, he now had a group of highly determined pirates that wanted to assimilate him, and would hound him unto the end of the world in an effort to get him to become a son of their captain.

 

Life was about to become far more troublesome for Kuzan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know, did I make Ace too much like Luffy? I mean, he did survive and his brothers spent the past year pretty much reminding him that his life means something, so I don't know.


	3. Nearly a Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well. He's not quite a Whitebeard Pirate yet, but might as well be.

The Whitebeard Pirates collectively started to break off and go about their normal, everyday business. Most of them thought(and rightly so) that given how difficult it was to get Kuzan awake in the first place, it would be doubly difficult to get him awake the second time. Besides, they needed to get as far out into the ocean as possible before he woke up.

 

While it was somewhat well-known that Kuzan had a way of easily traversing the ocean, they were hoping his lazy nature would prevent him from leaving. Mostly by making it really easy to stay, and supremely difficult to leave.

 

So when Kuzan, only bothering to get up from his spot on the deck because of the scent of food(admittedly this was because he hadn’t eaten any good food in a while, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have gotten up until someone kicked him the next morning in frustration), actually appeared next to the division commanders during their meal time they were shocked. Mostly because a lazy, half-asleep, injured guy(who seemed suspiciously less injured than he should have been…) managed to just appear in the room and at their table without any of them noticing. 

 

“I thought you were still sleeping,” Jozu said dumbly(though to be fair, most of the others hadn’t even been able to move yet).

 

“I came for food,” Kuzan replied, “Unless you don’t feed kidnapped ex-Admirals, in which case I will still eat the food after freezing you all solid to prevent interference” (In the background everyone sweatdropped and started gobbling down their food faster. They had all learned really quick *coughcoughAcecough* that threats about food would always be carried out).

 

“Here you go,” Haruta said with cheer, “You’ll find that we feed our victims, makes it far more interesting when they try and run away.”

 

Kuzan looked at them with inscrutable eyes, before giving Haruta the lazy answer, “It would be too troublesome to try and escape.” Of course, after that he ate the entire plate that had been given to him with alarming efficiency and quickness(keep in mind that these are crew mates of Portgas D Ace) before getting up and shuffling away in a lazy slouch.

 

“Hey, where are you going!” Ace pouted at the ice man.

 

“Sleep, Where else?”

 

And Kuzan walked out the door, where he would be found taking a nap in the middle of the deck with his face mask firmly on not long after. 

 

They all noticed this time, that for all of his shuffling and laziness, the man did not make a single noise the entire time.

 

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

It became apparent after that, that Kuzan honestly didn’t care about being on a pirate ship(you’d think even a retired Admiral would care quite a bit about that pirate fact). In fact, the supposedly lazy man(they say supposedly because surely no one as strong as him could be as lazy as he portrayed himself) seemed more amused by the pirates than anything.

 

Of course, most of that theory of him being less lazy was probably a fervent hope from the crews frustration at the fact Kuzan A.) always was napping, B.) cloud watched when he didn’t nap, and C.) would not move no matter how hard anyone tried(it only took Ace and Haruta one time being turned into popsicles and pushed into the ocean by a person who barely even moved and had his eyes closed to decide that pranking other targets was the preferred option). 

 

That was, until Ace decided to ask him a simple question.

 

“Do you ever actually do anything other than lie around? I thought an admiral would have some more interesting hobbies than doing nothing,” and the look on Ace’s face was definitely a pout even though he’d deny it(this guy had saved his life, had helped him keep his promise to Luffy, but nothing he did got a reaction. Like he honestly didn’t care anymore. Before, at Marineford, he’d been more alive. It was like Kuzan had lost his purpose with his job, like he knew every move the world would take from here on out.).

 

Ace was so lost in his thoughts about how to get a person who has fulfilled what seemed to be his life goal(it actually wasn’t, but the true goal was something that was far easier to put into motion now that he’d left the marines. No, Kuzan had fulfilled the debts that weighed on his soul) to regain their motivation(beyond what seemed to be a general vendetta against Akainu and the WG. Why had he been a Marine, again?) that he almost missed the quick reply of “Shogi.” Almost.

 

“You like shogi, Yoi,” came the voice of Marco that had been heading over to drag Ace off to do his paperwork.

 

Kuzan looked at him before shrugging and simply stating, “Yeah. Though I don’t mind Go or Chess either.”

 

“Say…” Marco said with a sly tone to his voice, “Pops has a shogi board that we sometimes use, though not many beside Izo and I are actually that interested in the game. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you played him.”

 

“Troublesome,” Kuzan said softly while looking in the direction of the Yonko. He raised one eyebrow at Marco, as if to say he knew exactly what the phoenix was doing, before getting up and stretching(this awed most of the crew, because at this point the sheer levels of lazy they had witnessed had made the idea of talking Kuzan into getting up before he was ready a legendary thing). “Better see if your old man wants a game,” then his hand shot out and dragged Marco off balance as he began moving towards the captain, “And if he doesn’t you’ll be my opponent instead.”

 

Needless to say, Edward Newgate was entirely too pleased, both for the fact that the person who would be his son(never say that when Whitebeard chose family, they didn’t stay chosen) was actually interacting with him, and because hardly anyone would play shogi with him.

 

Of course, this lead to a remarkable observation about their new-in the pirates minds- crewmate(and gave insight into the sheer enormity of the grudge Kuzan held for Akainu).

 

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

In a spectacle that anyone who wasn’t supremely busy decided to watch, Kuzan beat Whitebeard at shogi. Actually trumped him, but even though it didn’t seem that difficult for the iceman, Kuzan held a small smile on his face and seemed pretty happy.

 

“Why are you so happy, my son,” Edward Newgate asked, after all, trouncing someone in shogi didn’t seem like something to get as happy as the former admiral had gotten.

 

Kuzan quirked an eyebrow at the word son, but didn’t say anything(to the general joy of the pirates) about it and instead chose to answer the question, “I actually had to try to beat you, normally I don’t even have to stay awake to beat someone.”

 

“So…, you’re just really good at tactical games?” Izo remarked somewhat mystified(mostly because it was insanely difficult to defeat Pops at shogi).

 

Kuzan hummed before a… disturbingly predatory smile took up residence on his face, “Tactics and strategy are a specialty of mine. As a matter of fact I wrote every single currently used patrol and attack pattern that are standard in the Marines, even the back up ones in case some pirate figures it out.”

 

Every single Whitebeard pirate froze(including their illustrious captain), and looked at him blankly, the comprehension of the enormity of what the former admiral had just said hitting them one by one.

 

“You wrote… all of the standard marine tactics,” Ace said with awe in his voice, “And all of the patrol patterns, the ones that gave everyone such trouble that the old timers still complain about them and talk big about how they used to be ‘back in the good old days.’”

 

“Imagine the chaos we could cause with information like that,” Haruta stated dreamily, thinking of all the pranks he could play on unsuspecting marines.

 

They turned as one with puppy dog eyes towards the keeper of such knowledge, got down on their knees and whined in harmony, “Pleeeeaaaase! Tell us!”

 

“Maybe,” came the off hand comment, “But you’d have to offer me something in exchange.”

 

Edward Newgate(along with a good portion of his sons) peered at the former admiral, who’d gone curiously blank-faced and sharp-eyed in contrast to the good mood he’d had at the start of the game, and asked, “What would you want in return for this information.”

 

A slight smirk appeared on Kuzan’s face, “A couple of things really. Don’t worry, none of it’s too difficult.”

 

“Well,” Jozu said, “State your demands.”

 

“One, the marines Vice Admiral Smoker, Captain Tashigi, and their men, won't be messed with by you guys. If they attack feel free to fight them but don’t kill them, and if they leave you alone then leave them alone. It shouldn’t be too difficult considering they’re far more concerned with certain Straw Hat’s.”

 

“Acceptable,” Whitebeard said gravely.

 

“Two, if I’m taking a nap or cloud watching no one gets to wake me for anything less than an emergency on the level of someone is attacking this boat, land is nearby, or if your Captain deems it truly necessary. If anyone fails to follow this rule than I can do anything short of permanent injury and death and no one can complain.”

 

Whitebeard looked more amused at this one, but still agreed(after all, if any of his sons were stupid enough to try it with the clear warning then they deserved what they got).

 

“And third,” at this the smirk widened and the lazy voice of Kuzan slides into a purr, “If anyone wonders how you got this information, you must tell them that Former Admiral Aokiji, the person who created it in the first place, told you in order to mess with Akainu.”

 

“You really don’t like him, yoi,” Marco said somewhat stunned by the sheer viciousness of that statement.

 

Kuzan shrugged seemingly indifferent, “It’s because of him and his ilk that I had to kill the person who was like a brother to me.”

 

They all froze, imagining having to kill their own brothers(that is, the pirates next to them), for any reason. Most of them couldn’t imagine it, let alone think of why it would be necessary. 

 

Ace, the most horrified of them all, softly asked what everyone was thinking, “What happened?”

 

Kuzan paused before slumping, “It’s a very long story. But I suppose that you would think the worst of me if I don’t tell it. It all started, you could say, when Garp saved my life. I decided to become a marine simply because he was so passionate and I couldn’t think of anything better to do, and at the time there was only one other new recruit. A giant by the name of Jaguar D. Saul, and over the years we became best friends.”

 

“A giant?” one person asked.

 

“A D!” another exclaimed.

 

“Yes, yes,” Kuzan said, “ I don’t know what caused it, but one day after we both had become vice-admirals he retired, and was soon shipwrecked on an island. I’d been stationed someplace far away from him, so I didn’t find out until just before I was sent to the West Blue… for a buster call.”

 

“Wait a minute,” Marco said, “West Blue, buster call… that sounds like…”

 

“Ohara,” Kuzan finished, “Also the Island that Saul had been shipwrecked on. The government was destroying it for the knowledge the archeologists possessed, including a smart little girl named Nico Robin that knew how to read poneglyphs and had just eaten a Devil’s Fruit. Of course she and Saul became friends while he was there, and when the buster call came he began to destroy battleships and protect her… so they sent someone to stop him and insure their deaths.”

 

“They sent you,” came the horrified whisper of Vista, mirrored by all of his siblings.

 

“I was not going to,” and here the voice became more hesitant, “But Saul was heavily injured, had given his all for Nico Robin to escape, and he’d told me that his life did not matter anymore, that so long as Robin was okay and that I was still in the marines to protect people then he would die content. There was no other way to insure that Robin and I would not get killed other than to make the government trust me enough not to question the story of her escape. So I killed him.”

 

Kuzan was looking at his hands, seemingly unaware that tears had started running down his face. He’d never really had a chance to grieve for Saul, not like he had in his previous life for the people he had cared for.

 

Too much of a chance that someone would figure him out before he was ready, he supposed.

 

Years of his life, spent gaining the power that would enable him to trump the World Government and Akainu, all because the ideals of another life had caused him to want to make it better.

 

He supposed it was because of Naruto, and the will of fire that all Konoha nin held in their hearts. Perhaps if he’d been from another village, had not lived with Naruto as his friend and Hokage then he wouldn’t care, but he did.

 

This place was wrong in a way that even the assassin/mercenary he’d been in his past life knew it had to change.

 

So he would do so. Sharing Marine secrets with decent pirates was only the start.

 

Let the games begin, World Government. You were up against Kuzan, who’d been a Nara in his past life. Their defeat would be legendary. 

 

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

The Whitebeard pirates stood silently, watching what they knew to be a man grieving for the loss of his brother. A loss that he’d probably never had a chance to really grieve for before this moment.

 

It made more than one of them want to find some WG stoogies to beat up.

 

They slowly dispersed, having their own duties to perform, but most of them would be oddly quiet. 

 

In the end, the only one who stayed(shooing off all the rest of his sons that had stayed behind) was Edward Newgate.

 

It was he who put one arm around Kuzan, who drew him close.

 

It was the man with an entire crew that called him dad that told the former Admiral, the Ninja tactician that had sent so many of his own people to their deaths, that it was okay to cry. To let it out. That it was alright.

 

And perhaps Kuzan had been reincarnated, but that did not mean that Whitebeard wasn’t older and wiser. It did not mean that Nara Shikamaru had not died young, or that Kuzan had an actual father figure in this new world as he’d had in his old.

 

(perhaps it was for the best. Konoha had always valued teamwork, and he was in need of a team. Plus, being a pirate would allow him to act as he’d always really wanted towards the WG while having the added side benefit of making Akainu froth at the mouth).

 

The Whitebeard Pirates, for all that they wouldn’t learn of this until later(Whitebeard knew, but then again he can always tell) had gained a new brother.

 

And this one could outsmart the entire world.


	4. The Meaning of a Headband

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hitai-ate are cool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes, I did go there, and compared Luffy to Naruto. Power of protagonist is strong in both of them.

Life went on after that, and not much really seemed to change beyond Kuzan staying put on the ship. As a matter of fact, it was suspiciously quiet and peaceful, particularly in the New World. Which was cause enough for any old hand in the Grand Line to worry.

 

And the only ones who weren’t getting extremely paranoid about it were Edward Newgate himself, and Kuzan. This of course led to Ace asking about it during one of his bother-Kuzan-while-he’s-trying-to-nap-to-get-him-to-do-cool-stuff attempts.

 

“So,” Ace said idly from where he was sitting next to the Ice-Man, having given up on getting him to move and deciding that relaxing in the sun was perfectly valid entertainment, “Do you know why it’s been so quiet lately? You seem just as relaxed as normal, so I was just wondering…”

 

Stopping Ace as he trailed of awkwardly, Kuzan simply said, “Monkey D Luffy.” And then got up walked off like he hadn’t seriously confused all of the nosy brothers that had curiously listened in along with Ace.

 

After all, what did Monkey D Luffy the Paradise rookie(even if he was Ace’s brother) have to do with the New World being quiet?

 

Kuzan smirked to himself as he walked off, remembering a kid named Naruto who’d once been his friend, and how Luffy had the same type of luck, charisma, ability to make friends with enemies, and crazy life.

 

Of course the New World would stay relatively quiet(for a given value of quiet, this was the place where sanity went off to die after all) before the kid got here.

 

(Elsewhere, Whitebeard smiled as his children wondered the same question at him, thinking back to a day many years ago when he’d first met the man who would become the pirate king.)

 

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

No matter how much they bothered him about it, no one could get Kuzan to tell them what he meant about Luffy, so eventually they went back to their old stand by of attempting to get Kuzan to join the crew instead.

 

It got ridiculous fairly quickly, and became something of a competition among the crew.

 

And all the Ice-Man would say was that he couldn’t join their crew. No matter what wacky scheme, bribe, wheedling, or begging they tried his answer was always the same. 

 

Whitebeard himself just seemed highly amused.

 

Which, to be honest, that was the only reason Marco realized that something was going on. Of course, as First Division commander, it was rather easy to corner the extremely lazy man in an out of the way place(he offered to let the guy nap in his office when it was raining).

 

“So,” Marco said after an hour of quietly doing paperwork, “Why can’t you join the crew? I’m pretty sure that I’ve got the reason, but humor me. I’d like to think we were friends, and I wont tell until you’re ready.”

 

At the honesty the Phoenix was giving off, at the realization that ‘yes, he could in fact have friends now,’ Kuzan grabbed an object he’d hidden away on himself.

 

Because some things last beyond lifetimes. Loyalty to an idea, to a way of life. And Kuzan had been a Shinobi of Konohagakure, where loyalty was shown through one very simple feature. 

 

If the government had known about his past life, then they would have realized that he had never been truly loyal to them.

 

Because in Kuzan’s hand was a strip of cloth with a metal plate sewn into it. Etched onto the plate was a simplified Whitebeard symbol, and sown into each side on the fabric(as a remembrance and a statement that he had not lost his old loyalty but rather had gained a new one) were two leaf symbols.

 

“What’s this,” Marco said softly to the quiet, smart, brother that was a breath of fresh air in the midst of dealing with all of the energetic crazy that made up the bulk of the Whitebeard Pirates(and the commanders especially). Marco didn’t know what it was, but the plate was obviously both personally important to Kuzan as well as showing that they guy had accepted the crew as his own.

 

Which explained why Pops was so amused at the situation.

 

“It is called a Hitai-ate. I…,” And in a rare moment of speechlessness, Kuzan looked down at his new forehead protector with old grief and longing, “I’ve been deciding on what time would be good to put it on.”

 

“Everyone would be honored if you would show up to dinner wearing it,” Marco said gently, “They might even decide to throw a party, knowing those knuckleheads.”

 

Kuzan looked at the First Division commander, making up his mind to do something that would make him happy(loyalty to one’s village, team, clan. He had lost them, never found something worthy to have his allegiance since. Just because he was shinobi, did not mean that he was not loyal to the very end).

 

In the traditional fashion of his village, Kuzan tied his new Hitai-ate to his forehead. Let everyone know his true loyalty at a glance.

 

A party was, in fact, thrown that night. And when any member of the crew wondered why Kuzan had used the Whitebeard symbol as a headband(as opposed to the more traditional tattoo or stitching it onto an often worn coat), the man would look at them like they were crazy before saying that it was a piece of armor. Obviously. 

 

It was barely a month later when Jinbe sent word that Monkey D. Luffy, now that he was finally in the New World, wanted to see his older brother again. Jinbe amusedly passed on the direction the Rookie had taken. 

 

Ironically, Punk Hazard had been chosen by the young captain, and Whitebeard had seemed pretty happy about meeting up with one of his son’s(By proxy. Actually, the old man had technically adopted both the entire Straw Hat and Heart pirate crews. Without telling them, or even caring that they were rival captains, that Luffy kept announcing to the world that he would be the Pirate King, or that Law had been a warlord for about a year by that point. Luffy was the brother of Ace that had given his all to rescue him, and Law had saved his, Ace, and several other critically injured crew members lives before keeling over in exhaustion and being scolded by his own crew for wearing himself out. Whitebeard would track them both down for family bonding, and they would accept being allied at the very least before he let them go… ).

 

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

 

“Will you be okay going back there,” Vista said from next to Kuzan. The flower sword wielder, while he might not be as smart or as intuitive as some of his other crew members, was probably the best at understanding other people. Probably because he could be both weird and normal, depending on his mood(he fought with somehow deadly flowers, and used a sword. Obviously this indicates something about him…). 

 

Kuzan just gave a lazy smirk back, “I did hold back you know, the marines probably think that I still don’t have my leg anymore because of the fight. Ahh, but it would have been way too troublesome to have been the fleet admiral. Besides, I made it so half the island is eternally a frozen wasteland, it would be a shame not to visit.”

 

“Okay, yeah, it is an awesome island,” Ace agreed from where he walked up behind them, “Let’s hurry though, Luffy’s probably already been here for a few hours at the least and if I know my little brother he’s gotten into some kind of trouble.”

 

“Feeling the love, Bro, feeling the love,” Haruta made the jab at his fiery brother, who regularly gushed about Straw Hat Luffy in an entirely embarrassing manner but, while he was a pretty good brother to the rest of them, never treated them the same way. Probably because he didn’t practically raise the rest of them, and didn’t see them as adorable yet destructive children. 

 

“Oh, hush,” Ace muttered with a slight blush as he drove his elbow into Haruta’s stomach.

 

The Whitebeard pirates had barely gotten within sight of Punk Hazard when a fwoosh of releasing gases happened and a cloud of almost certainly poisonous gas seemed to engulf the burning half of the island. 

 

Pops looked at the island contemplatively, not truly afraid for any of his children but worried nonetheless. Marco on the other hand had just slammed his head into his face and began muttering about, “stupid firebrains that tempt fate.” 

 

“Kuzan, Ace, Marco,” Pops said easily, surveying the island, “Check out the island and the situation, make sure the Straw Hats are alright, and report back as soon as you find out if it’s safe for the rest of the crew to visit.”

 

There was no point for all of his sons to walk into a potentially dangerous situation, after all(Kuzan and Ace were logia that either knew the terrain or were heavily invested in some of the people in the island. And it would probably take drowning in the ocean to actually kill Marco, beyond the fact that he would be needed to keep the other two on track, properly motivated, and to actually remember to check back in with the Moby Dick because he was responsible like that).

 

So three sons of Whitebeard headed onto Punk Hazard with a baby Den Den Mushi to look for the Straw Hat Pirates and make sure that the island wouldn’t instantly kill the more normal members of the crew due to extreme temperatures and unidentified gas.


	5. Enter Luffy(And Friends)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Punk Hazard still happens to the Straw Hats, but with Whitebeard Pirates thrown in the mix it'll probably end up a little less violent. Or maybe more violent. Either way, Smoker is going to have a really big headache...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long time, but I got a new computer. And it took me awhile to switch everything over... But oh well. Here is the next chapter!

Ace had been right when he said that Luffy was probably get into a lot of trouble, however he also seemed to be under the assumption that if ‘big brother Ace’ were with Luffy then nothing bad was going to happen.

He was wrong, of course. Luffy was the type of person that trouble followed around constantly regardless of who else was nearby. He should have remembered Alabasta.

Because saying that there was a little poison gas on Punk Hazard was like saying the ocean was a little wet. It was an extreme understatement to the point of not even being funny.

Not to say that the island wasn’t also frozen on one half and on fire on the other, no it was just that much more dangerous.

To everyone not a logia or with some other extreme healing ability, that is. 

Nobody noticed Moby Dick on the horizon, and definitely nobody noticed the three men who walked through the poison gas like it was nothing and broke into the building housing Caesar Clown, Vergo, various minions, Doflamingo groupies, Marines under the command of Smoker, experimented upon children, a future Daimyo of Wano, said future Daimyo’s retainers, the Straw Hat Pirates, and Trafalgar Law.

With the addition of Marco the Phoenix, Fire-fist Ace, and former Admiral ‘Aokiji’ Kuzan the day was sure to get even more chaotic than usual.

After all, people who mess with those the Whitebeard Pirates consider family or under their protection, they don’t tend to last very long.

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

It seemed as though either an idiot or an exceptionally cruel or desperate person had knocked a hole into the bunker, allowing the deadly gas inside. 

“Luffy may be dumb, but he wouldn’t do something like this,” Ace crackled out to his brothers. Ace and Kuzan had gone into their elemental forms and Marco had surrounded himself with Phoenix fire to prevent the gas from affecting them.

“I didn’t think you had the control to not catch all of this gas on fire,” Kuzan remarked to Ace from where he was lagging slightly behind the two fire users.

“Oi!” Ace complained, “Just because I like to set stuff on fire doesn’t mean that I don’t have too if I don’t want too. And why aren’t you surprised with Marco, he likes lighting people on fire as much as I do.”

“Marco is actually surprisingly levelheaded, especially compared to you, the fact he doesn’t try to murder everyone but Pops on a daily basis proves that.”

“Guys,” Marco said seriously, “Now isn’t the time.” He nods his head towards what they had at first assumed just to be chunks of the shattered wall but were actually people frozen in various shapes. 

It was, quite frankly put, a gruesome and terrible spectacle. 

Petrified in what looked to be a bunch of purple stone, a number of people in Marine Uniforms stood facing the door. Most of them seemed to be trying to encourage someone, which almost made it worse because knowing how scared their body language was, they must have sacrificed themselves for someone.

The absolute worst part, however, was how close they were to the door. They almost made it, in a few more seconds they would have been safe. 

“Even Marines,” Ace whispered, “Didn’t deserve to die like this.” He looked highly upset by the statues, recognizing the sacrifice they must have made.

Marco put a hand on his shoulder, “It’ll be okay, yoi. Captain will make sure these guys are remembered, at the very least.”

“They’re not dead,” Kuzan suddenly mentioned from where he was observing another statue, “Slowly dying, perhaps, and in a state of petrification, but they’re not quite dead yet.”

“Then we should help them,” Ace said.

Marco shook his head, “They’d need a doctor as soon as they get out, if what Kuzan said is true then they should be fine for a couple more hours. Let’s continue, make sure that anyone else in this place isn’t similarly affected, and then when we report back we can make sure that our family brings some of the nurses to help them.”

Ace suddenly looked at the door, worried that Luffy(or one of his nakama) was petrified. After all, he did know that his baby brother kept getting into trouble, and Ace really didn’t want this to happen to him. 

So the trio headed inwards through the open doorways(seriously, who is doing this stuff? Ace was going to set them on fire if they hurt even a hair on the head of his ‘adorable baby brother’), and that was where things got interesting.

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

“Troublesome,” Kuzan whispered as he sensed something… interesting, “Trafalgar Law and Smoker are here… and if I’m correct they’re fighting someone interesting. You guys can continue on, I’m going to go check that out.”

“Wait,” Marco shouted, “We should stick together in case… And he’s already gone.”

Ace cheerfully patted his shoulder, “Ah, Kuzan’ll be okay, he’s just checking up on his ‘student’, now let’s find Luffy and his crew, I’m sure they’ll need help by now.”

Marco just gave up and followed the fire-brain, muttering all the while about idiot ice people that weren’t as lazy as they let on, and that were just as reckless as some other brothers he could name. Yeah, Marco was pretty frustrated that one of his more reasonable brothers was actually just as crazy as the rest. 

Of course, Kuzan being a ninja meant that he literally found the two in the blink of an eye. Soru and its ripoffs were ok for the people of this world, but as a former ninja of Konohagakure he could be just as fast without the technique. And that wasn’t even mentioning Shunshin(which sadly couldn’t be used in combat, but was good for transportation. The combat readiness of soru was one of its good points though). 

So he got there just in time to see Trafalgar Law slice off the head of Vergo while saying, “Goodbye, Pirate Vergo,” with an almost broken yet so close to peaceful tone of voice. And all the while, Smoker(He’d been his teacher once, the kid was firm in his ideas of Justice, but he looked at it so much differently than any other Marine Kuzan had met. Maybe that’s why he’d decided to teach him) sat up against a wall, looking darkly at Vergo as though the man were the worst possible scum. 

And then Law walked over to a familiar looking Den-den Mushi and simply said, “I will come for you next,” before hanging up. 

Kuzan facepalmed when he realized who Law had been taunting, “Doflamingo? How troublesome.”

This caused the two survivors to look at him in shock before Law demanded, “Aokiji, why are you here? I thought you’d retired.”

Kuzan shrugged, “Ah, I was just passing by and saw the giant explosion. Though I would like to know what’s happening before I leave.”

Smoker, during the entire conversation just stared at Kuzan with confusion before it changed to hurt, finally speaking, “So, you’re a pirate now, Sensei?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than what you’re thinking, Smoker,” Kuzan said gently, “I promise that I’ll explain everything later, but right now we need to evacuate because of the gas.”

And so Smoker, known for being basically the most decent Marine in current existence(He might follow the law, but he was merciful, went by what was right, and if it came down to it would try his best to save civilians above all else. He was also such a wild card that was willing to bend the rules that the higher ups hadn’t wanted to promote him higher than a captain even if he was strong enough until the Alabasta Fiasco), reluctantly decided to wait to hear his Sensei’s story of how he became a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, and to treat the man the same as he always had before then.

So Kuzan with Smoker and Law went towards the others to help evacuate and capture this clown dude.

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

With Ace and Marco, things were quickly getting out of hand. There were… a lot of thing going on. It was so seemingly random that the only thing they could do was stare. 

Sure, they were New World veterans. They’d definitely seen enough crazy things in their lives to have thought that nothing would really phase them. But this… this was something else.

If Ace didn’t know any better he’d of thought that Luffy was the protagonist of some kind of manga. If Marco didn’t know any better he’d believe that some kind of god was trying to think up crazy situations just for laughs. 

In the end though, no matter how much Ace wanted to help his baby brother he didn’t. Mostly because said baby brother would get mad if anyone interfered in his personal fight. So, instead he joined Marco in “getting everyone to the tunnel quickly so that only the only person we have to worry about is Luffy”. 

Which, surprisingly(or not…) got way easier once Kuzan showed up with a grim Law(compared to Marineford, which was honestly pretty worrying) and a Smoker that looked like someone had just stabbed their puppy before kicking it a few times for good measure. Because, when you can freeze even gass as well as being able to make airtight structures with a thought, poisonous gas potentially killing a number of children, Marines, high ranking Wano citizens(and how?), and centaur pirates becomes a lot less of a worry.

Plus, having a flight capable, nigh-immortal phoenix getting to those who were blocked in made this all a lot easier.

Of course, Luffy shows up just a bit after everyone is finally gathered before they can leave the danger zone. And, weirdly enough seems conflicted(though he immediately cheers upon seeing Ace). As a good brother, Ace obviously has to ask him why he was ‘thinking so hard’.

“I defeated the Clown Guy,” Luffy says frowning a bit, “But I sent him flying. And Law wants to capture him for Mystery Reasons, but can’t if he’s gone. Maybe he’s still on the island…”

Law, of course, just sighed(having learned from their first encounter that Luffy didn’t think things through that much), though every pirate and marine looked at him weird for having a plan(?) that involved capturing a random(seemingly) scientist for potentially nefarious reasons. 

So they left the building, and that’s when it really got weird.

*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*

A spinning guy and a weapon girl were fighting Jinbe and Franky(who’d been guarding the ship at that time), two ‘unknowns’ that both the captain of the Heart Pirates as well as the three New World veteran pirates recognized as being members of Doflamingo’s crew.

Of course, what was strange was when members of Doflamingo’s crew that was based in the New World recognized Law personally even though only Doflamingo himself showed up to Warlord meetings, which should have been especially difficult when ‘escaping’ with Caesar Clown. It was the tone of his voice when he denied that they were friends when Luffy asked, however, that convinced everyone that they definitely weren’t allied in any way.

(Which was a good thing, because almost nobody actually liked Doflamingo. Something about the guy just grated on anyone relatively decent’s nerves.) 

They didn’t get very far with their attempt. An entirely willing to help Marco made sure of that.

Though what Law did to them next was fairly creepy, and the fact that a rookie like him was willing to put a snail with the duo so that when Doflamingo found them(and he would find them) Law could taunt the crazy and powerful Warlord was a big deal.

And that was about the time the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates, called to the island after Marco was certain that the gas had dissipated, arrived. 

And started a party.

A party that included Marines, included rescued and life-saved marines(from the gas) who wouldn’t complain about the pirates they were so grateful, where Smoker finally managed to corner his old teacher.

The only reason he managed to do that was by getting Luffy and Law to help him. Because, as the smoke logia explained, a man like Aokiji joining the Whitebeard Pirates without anyone hearing was surely an interesting story(and he promised to give Luffy meat when even the promise of a cool story likely involving his elder brother didn’t completely sway him. Law just really wanted to know about the headgear, which Smoker promised to tell him about even if Kuzan didn’t). 

To Whitebeard, Kuzan, and even Marco however… seeing those three even temporarily ally was enough to send shivers down their back. Because it reminded them of a time in the past, when a certain group of three Marines would get together to fight crime. And one of those Marines, they knew, had started out as something quite different… 

Either way, it got a lot of the older generation of pirates to… reconsider what they had assumed to be an average Marine. Especially when Smoker pulled out a headband exactly like Kuzan’s but blank, and proceeded to explain the purpose in better detail than Kuzan had.

It sure was an interesting day, and when the Whitebeard Pirates found out the ultimate goal(s) of the rookies… well. They wanted front row seats to that.

(Shanks, when he heard what his little ‘protégé’ was up to later via Newgate in their Secret Yonko Meeting, i.e they liked to gossip with the only other relatively decent Yonko, bursted out laughing.)


	6. In Which Some Things Are New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story begins... but doesn't end yet.

At first, watching the grumbly young marine corner Kuzan had both amused and confused everyone else(including the other Marines, because that was their leader confronting a former Admiral about being a pirate. In front of his new crew The Whitebeard Pirates. I mean, they definitely weren’t the smartest but even they knew that probably wasn’t the most intelligent of ideas.), amused because the Whitebeard Pirates were pretty sure that someone Kuzan cared enough about to mention wouldn’t hurt the ice guy or vice versa and thus it was considered a friendly confrontation, and confused because White Chase teamed up with pirates to do so.

Not only that, but pirates that had technically betrayed the World Government, declared war on the World Government, and/or had been the object of his hunt for the past several years. 

The most confusing(but also pretty sad) thing happened during this moment at the victory party. Kuzan was just being amusedly lazy, messing with them by not reacting(and it was even getting to Law- the most level headed of them), when it seemed Smoker had enough of the Ice Man’s evasions.

“I know what that means, Kuzan,” And hurt seemed to flash through the seeming anger for just one moment as Smoker growled out the words, “I knew you weren’t the Government's biggest fan, but…” Smoker faltered at that moment before sighing. Gently reaching into his pocket he took out a headband almost exactly like Kuzan’s but blank. 

“I don’t understand,” Smoker continued in a far softer tone of voice, “You never seemed one to choose pirates. I never believed that you’d join the Revolutionaries, or any specific island, especially not anything relating to the World Government, but Pirates… “

Kuzan gave a wry smile at the younger man that he’d once taught, being both the only other logia nearby, and the only one that didn’t look down on a former street rat from the East Blue, “You know better than that.”

“I suppose, then, that all those rumors about the Whitebeard Pirates that the World Government tries to discredit are true?”

“Most of them, Yeah.”

And Smoker nodded once, put the headband back into his jacket, and hesitated only for a moment before saying, “I’m glad.”

It was then that the two noticed the large group of people watching them with interest. And they might not have said any more, except…

“If that headband is so important to you, then what exactly does it mean?” Because Law really wanted to know about it.

“Is it like how Ace has a really cool tattoo on his back?” Because Luffy thought of little else besides food, fighting, and nakama.

And then Kuzan got visibly upset, “It’s armor, a hitai-ate.”

And Smoker grumbled about, “It’s not quite the same, Straw Hat. But pretty much, yeah.”

So Marco, who just wanted the conversation over so that they could get onto more pressing matters, like what they were going to do about Doflamingo and Kaido-because of course the rookies had made both of them very, very angry with their stunt, said, “Story time.”

And when everyone basically gathered around Smoker and Kuzan intently, with Whitebeard just looking amusedly happy, and Law smugly smiling, with half of the Straw Hat Pirates cheering-including their captain- along with most of the Marines(who had pretty much decided to treat all the pirates like friends because Vice Admiral Smoker and Captain Tashigi had said they were okay, and they knew both of them would never lead them wrong or betray them like Vergo), Marco put a stop to that too.

“Yeah, it’s not just story time for them, but I want to know why Law decided to go after Doflamingo and Kaido, and what happened at Fishman Island with Luffy, and, if I’m satisfied with the answers I’ll even throw in a cool story of my own.”

Every member of the Whitebeard Pirates besides Kuzan and Newgate began to beg all three of them to talk, spurring on the assembled groups at the victory party. It wasn’t very well known, but, besides being a doctor, Whitebeard’s unofficial official first mate, and the most responsible older brother figure of the crew, Marco the Phoenix was a really good story teller when he decided to be. 

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Luffy started talking first, without even waiting for a prompt or doing anything to indicate he was uncomfortable with the situation. In fact, the rubber man tangled his arms around a glaring Law(he didn’t want anyone telling him what to do. Nor did he want to tell anyone but his ally anything about his plan. Especially not a Yonko.) and a stiffly standing Smoker(He was going to have to tell pirates something very personal in front of the guy who had taught him it in the first place), and dragged them down onto the bench Kuzan was leaning up against in an apparent doze before starting his story.

It… didn’t make very much sense to most of the people there. In fact, only Whitebeard, Marco, Ace, Smoker, Law, and Luffy’s crewmates fully understood the point he was trying to make(Whitebeard and Marco being familiar enough with Garp and Roger to get Luffy-speak, Law being a fellow D that-while seeming entirely rational-was still very much a D, and Smoker having way too much familiarity with Luffy’s methods because of his manhunt of the rubber guy-and also Law making zero sense in his Warlord reports and having to be the one too decipher them. Why the Marines thought Smoker should be the go to guy on anything concerning the Eleven Supernovas but especially Law and Luffy he would never understand.).

(Far away, relaxing in an office very close to Sakazuki’s-close enough he could pester the man with ease in fact- a supremely satisfied and mostly retired Sengoku sneezed and remembered one of his greatest paperwork foists in recent years. One of his friends little proteges had risen high enough in the ranks that he could foist all of the paperwork concerning the Eleven Supernovas onto him-and with two of those being D’s and one of those D’s a Warlord it was the best way of getting rid of paperwork he’d managed in years. But that was all Sakazuki’s problem now. No more paperwork for Sengoku.)

From what little the average person could understand, Luffy’s crew had met a Kraken, some random Cabbage pirate and the Flying Dutchman on the way to Fishman Island. The Kraken, however, became his friend and… barfed(?) another friend up who is a shark. The shark belongs to a very big mermaid named Weakhoshi(particularly discerning people would realize he was speaking about Princess Shirahoshi) that also became Luffy’s friend. Somewhere along the way, they meet up with Jinbe, who saves Sanji’s life(they think…) and end up fighting a lot of people being mean to the various friends Luffy made while on Fishman Island. A lot of sea kings were involved, and then they ate a lot of food and were gifted with some of the famed saltwater taffy before leaving. 

Anyone who had read the ‘report’ of the incident(As Whitebeard’s territory, they regularly submitted reports to him so that he’d know what was going on. In truth, it was mostly a way for King Neptune to catch up with his long time friend Newgate.) and knew the true story thought that it was hilarious.

The thing that made most of the people there laugh, however, was how Ace was alternating between being proud of Luffy, and being extremely overprotective of him and threatening basically everyone that the rubber man had had to fight on Fishman Island. 

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At the commiserating looks Law and Smoker were giving each other as Luffy’s story began winding down, and the fact that Kuzan wasn’t taking a nap but seemed to be thinking up escape plans, Marco immediately told them, “If you were hoping we would be too distracted by Luffy and Ace to notice you not giving us your story, it’s not going to happen. And don’t think I don’t notice you over there Kuzan. You and Smoker can go next, because I get the feeling that Trafalgar over there is going to need a bit more time.”

And everyone started to pay attention again, resulting in Kuzan standing up next to Smoker with a grumble before loudly proclaiming, “He was my student for a bit.” 

Everyone stared at them with confusion. 

Smoker seemed almost a little embarrassed or disgruntled by what Kuzan was saying, but didn’t refute it. Kuzan rolled his eyes at everyone.

“Is it that hard to believe that I’d have been the one to teach him? Kid was some punk recruit from the East that had found a Devil Fruit, and of course it had to be a logia. And, except for Garp, most tend to look down on the East for being the weakest sea,” and here Kuzan grinned at Ace and Luffy and all the East Bluers, “I was the only one with both the ability and inclination to teach him, and my CO at the time took quite a bit of shine to him. Maybe they only said to teach him enough to not be a liability, but he fit right in with the Tactics Division. The best at predicting a person’s actions that I’ve ever seen, could chase down a man to the ends of the world without even really trying.”

Smoker crossed his arms and scowled with his ever present cigars hanging out of his mouth, “That’s not exactly how it went and you know it. This guy tried every trick in the book to avoid me, unless Vice Admiral Tsuru herself forced him to teach me. And even then, getting information out of Kuzan was like pulling teeth. It took me getting fed up with everyone ignoring me, finding your next sleeping spot, and then putting a knife to your throat and threatening you to get you to like me enough to actually teach me.”

“Wait a minute,” Ace said with amusement as all of the rookies(Including Law) practically fell to the ground laughing and the Marines(especially a Tashigi that finally looked away from her glaring contest) stared at their commanding officer in astonishment, “You, who chased a group of relatively peaceful pirates all the way to the New World with more tenacity than I’ve seen from pretty much anyone in the Marines who isn’t Garp, started out your career by threatening one of your commanding officers. And how did threatening Kuzan even work to get him to like you, anyway?”

Kuzan answered that one with a smile, “He was a street kid that joined the Marines to not end up in jail, but most of those try to separate their past from themselves too hard and end up being far more strict with the law than the average bunch. I just wanted to see if he’d be a waste of my time and end up being another follower of Sakazuki’s particular brand of justice, or if the kid with the smoke logia would still remember and acknowledge his past. And for all that Smoker has a, shall we say, resting angry face, he has never been unfair or needlessly cruel.”

“I’m not Sakazuki,” Smoker growled out into the silence.

“Of course not,” Kuzan said kindly, “But you know how you can come across, especially when meeting others for the first time.”

Whitebeard nodded slowly, before saying, “But that does not truly explain the headband.”

Kuzan twitched a bit, “It ties into loyalty. To wear it shows other people what you give your allegiance to, and making it easier to tell friend from foe. I wear this because my loyalty is with you guys, and if someone were to ever take it then it would be mark of dishonor that only reclaiming it would rectify.”

“And,” Smoker said softly, “If you ever see it with a diagonal mark slashing through it, and he doesn’t immediately try and fix it, that means he has turned his back on you and declared disloyalty.” At Kuzan’s frown toward him he added, “They have the right to know.”

“You know I would never do that once I have chosen to give my loyalty.”

“But, just in case you have no choice. You know that she still has a favor of yours to call in. Not that she’d probably make you do anything like that, but still.”

And Kuzan nodded before turning his attention back to the assembled group of misfits, and saying in dismissal, “I believe that should answer your questions quite nicely.”

“In that case,” A smirk appeared on Marco the Phoenix’s face, “We should hear Law’s story. When it’s done I’ll give everyone gathered a story that will undoubtedly be even more interesting with what we’ve just heard.”

And Trafalgar Law just glared at his fellow doctor.

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**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter is where everything really gets going!


End file.
